She Will Love Something Other Than Food
by Ellen1804
Summary: Twenty-one year old Yako falls under the effects of the Love Tool, and everyone else had better learn to deal with it.
1. Chapter 1

Beep... Beep... Yako rolled over to the other side of her bed groped around until her fingers clasped around the vibrating phone. She flipped it open. The caller ID shone bright red and dripping with blood.

Yako tossed the phone to the other side of the room. "... Neuro... It's still two hours before the sun rises..."

She closed her eyes and slumped down. She heard a quiet _click_. She didn't even have to turn around. She sighed and got up. "I get it, Neuro, you tireless bastard." She plodded towards the bathroom. "Trust him to attach a mini-explosive-launcher on my phone."

_Mini explosive launcher, you say?_

_Don't assume._

Behind her, a tiny silver ball was ejected out of the tiny muzzle of the gun. It slid under the bed. On tiny letters, 'poisonous gases' was written on the sphere.

* * *

Yako flipped another omelet and tossed it into her mouth. "Ninety-one! Ninety-two! Ninety... There's no more eggs left. I'm sure I had two hundred since yesterday. I only remember eating a small midnight snack..."

Yako sighed and sat down on the chair, spatula in hand. "Adult life is so hard... With my paycheck, I could afford a condo and a car, but... My appetite runs over a million yen like it's nothing. Now sometimes they pay me in food."

Yako tossed the spatula over her shoulder. "Not enough! A twenty-one-year-old would starve on this! I'm hungry~! But payday is tomorrow... And I'm broke."

She knew that her fridge was empty. The mail box was also empty. Ever since Godai was assigned to her bills, all the envelopes disappeared and she just received a weekly sum to spend at her leisure.

That weekly sum never lasted long. "Even when I buy the cheapest foods, like eggs and bread..."

Yako got up and grabbed her jacket. "Well, no use being lazy. Neuro's waiting to kick my butt."

She walked to her door, slipped into a pair of black flats, opened the door, and nearly tripped over a neatly wrapped box on her doorstep. Yako jumped over it at the last second to avoid smashing it to pieces and landed in her bush, thorns stinging her hands, which were not covered by cloth.

Yako pulled herself up and stumbled over to the box, setting her bag back down inside. "My reflexes are faster... Now that Neuro has come back to test them." She picked up the box and sniffed.

_Lemons and cream!_

"Cake! Is it from a fan? T-thank you, whoever you are! At such a good time, too." Yako danced her way back into her home, the prospect of food brightening her up.

* * *

Neuro tapped his nails on his desk lightly. If he had his way the entire thing would be pulverized to dust by now but it was new and he had to show composure or Yako point that out as a fault.

Silly maggot. Demons as powerful as I have not a fault.

Except being extremely violent, cold, calculating, and the lack of a proper conscience. And arrogance, lack of humility, etc. And sadistic personalities. And sometimes insensitive to feelings. And maybe forgetful of other's fragility. Tch. Not important. Those aren't even faults... Just some effects of a healthy pride and the downfalls of extreme strength and power.

Not faults at the slightest.

Akane wrote something on her board and flailed around a bit before straightforwardly pointing down with the tip of her braid. Neuro looked down, to where she was pointing frantically. There were five deep gouges in the table. Neuro shifted some papers over and put on his poker face, eyes wide open and blank.

The door slid open.

A strand of blonde hair entered the room.

Neuro was there in an instant, his hand reaching over to grab Yako's neck, lifting her up three feet. "Katsuragi, you are late for almost half an hour. Would you like to see how hell is like, you impudent..."

Yako smiled down at him and kissed him on the nose. "Neuro! You're wearing the same outfit as me today, it must be fate!" They were both wearing white collared shirts and a blue skirt/blue pair of pants.

Neuro zipped back to his chair. Yako blinked. Neuro was no longer holding her up, but was sitting back in his chair. She crumpled to the ground. She got up again, dropping her bag on the floor.

Neuro pointed to the chart that outlined uniforms: no pink, yellow, or any bright colors, only white blouses and blue pants when on office duty. "Of course we would be wearing the same colored clothes. Have you lost the little nuetron you call a brain, Yako... Or..."

Neuro lifted his nose up in the air and breathed in. "This smell..."

Yako twirled around at the entrance and kissed Akane on the tip of her hair, brushing her and tying her up again with a pink ribbon. "I love you, Akane!" She practically radiated love-shaped bubbles and emoticons. Neuro's eyes narrowed. Akane fidgeted and the hair in the braid turned a bright red.

Neuro shifted forwards, his hands cupping his face. "Yako, tell me, did you eat anything irregular today? Anything that arrived mysteriously or appeared in your cupboards?"

Yako turned to him and lifted a finger, tapping her cheek. "I did... Eat this cake that someone sent me."

Neuro sighed. "Only you the gluttonous pig would fall for such an overused trick."

Yako walked over to him. "Neuro, you're so cruel!"

"The cake was a lemon one, but it also was sort of sickly sweet and clotting after the sourness goes away."

"Yeah, that's exactly it! How did you know?" Yako leaned closer, picking up the papers and shuffling them.

"Those are the exact characteristics of the Demonic Tool 'Love'." Neuro watched as she arranged the papers absently. "You kissed me on the nose. It was more than enough to confirm it. The lemony-limey stink of you will never be gone as long as I live now, you germ-festering human."

Yako set the stack of papers down and kissed Neuro right on the lips.

She leaned back, laughing. Paper swirling all over the place. Neuro had his poker face on, his eyes wide and purposefully blank. But his eyes returned to normal when Yako's back was turned. "What impudence..."

He stood up and pushed on Yako's back. When she turned around, surprised, he picked her up by the collar, walked over to the entrance, and opened the door with his foot. He pushed her out into the hallway unceremoniously and handed her an envelope.

"The Demonic Tool Love is relatively weak. I have taught your subconscious to fight against this type of control over and over again. Try to get back your real self, Yako, with out my help and while you're at it, hand this to Higuchi." With that, Neuro shut the door closed.

He turned to Akane. The braid was swaying to and fro, too excited to write or perform coherent sign language. She was scribbling hearts on her whiteboard. Neuro walked back to his chair and sat back down.

"Yako is still in the back of her mind. The Love tool has taken over, but that will weaken as she fights to get out. She'll get out soon."

Akane scribbled on her board with a marker. _How do you know?_

"She was arranging the papers and requests... In chronological order. I arrange it in potential of a meal. She saw it in that order and her body put it in her preferred order."

Akane nodded her braid in acknowledgement and tossed her marker to the side, and started to type up reports for the police.

"Everything should be back to normal by tomorrow."

_...Normal..._

Neuro's hand twitched.

A warm breath puffed against his cold lips and penetrated them.

The table crumpled and collapsed, ashes spiraling into the air.

Ah... Whatever. Neuro didn't really like the shade, anyway. The shade was just a little too light of a red, and a little too reflective.

Blood red? Hardly.

Not even _close_.

* * *

Alright, this is the first chapter! This fanfiction would be of a medium length, at least, I _hope_ it would make it to a moderately readable length.

Thank you for reading!

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Higuchi tapped down on his keys, the computer screen illuminating his face and the sound of typing from his coworkers bouncing all over the room. It was music to his ears.

He pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes. He looked up at the time. "Oh. It's already lunchtime." He raised his hands over his head and stretched.

Someone caught his wrists.

Immediately, Higuchi swiveled out of his chair, flipped over, and pinned the person to the wall, his gun out of his pocket and its safety off.

Although he did gain a few inches in height and shoulder width, he was not sure if he would win against an attacker without a gun so he always kept on around... His seat was also near the back door, so if someone wanted to sneak in and destroy the data in the computers, he was the main target.

He looked up. "Who are you and why did you-"

Yako blinked, both hands up and one of them clutching an envelope. "Eh... Hi?"

Higuchi found a blush working up his face. "Katsuragi. God, I'm sorry. Don't sneak up to me like that. I thought... You were..." _A stranger._

Yako kissed him on the lips before he could finish. Higuchi's eyes widened and his gun slipped out of his slackened hand and clattered on the floor, for a moment he was lost. And then his eyes narrowed again, noticing something wrong.

Higuchi pushed Yako away. "What's wrong with you?" He wiped his mouth. "This... Katsuragi wouldn't act like this, however much I want her to... Are you drunk?"

Yako tossed the envelope to his computer and tried to hug him. "No! I love you, Higuchi!" Higuchi stopped her at arm's length.

Higuchi sniffed her mouth. "You smell like sickly-sweet lemons, Katsuragi. You usually smell like limes. What happened? Don't get into the habit of drinking, Katsuragi."

As Yako started to protest against his assumption that she was drunk, Higuchi carefully looked into her mouth. "No dehydration signs, no remains of a powder."

Yako walked up to him and pulled on his hoodie string. "You're so mean, Higuchi! Why don't you believe me?! Well! If you're going to be like that... I have other things to do!" Yako then turned on her heels and stomped straight out of the room.

His coworkers snickered at him. Higuchi sat back down and started to open the envelope.

"Oi, aren't you going after your wife?" Someone called from the other side of the room. More laughing. Higuchi flushed.

"She isn't my wife! And besides, I have work." The female coworkers booed.

"Your lunch break is fifteen minutes away. Usually you'd be gone by now."

Higuchi ignored them and slid the note out from the envelope. "Neuro..."

"Katsuragi has eaten something that has changed her personality. Do not mind her. It's an aftereffect of yesterday's mystery. Okay..."

Higuchi straightened his back and stared down at the sheet of paper, his eyes running over the characters. He looked at the time. "Twelve and a half minutes to find the source of this particular sickly sweet lemony and purple-colored flower."

He cracked his knuckles. "Ten minutes, tops."

* * *

Yako opened the door to Godai's office on the top floor of the company. "Godai~! Why don't you visit anymore? I missed you!" Godai didn't look up from the mountains of paper on his desk.

Yako's eyes, which were formerly clouded and unfocused, were now a bit more of its former clear shade of brown. "What's wrong? Why do you have so much paper?"

Godai tossed a stack into the trash bin. "The computer I had crashed down. So for now, it's paper and ink for me until the shipment of the new computer finally checks in. A bloody bother. Why are you here? Neuro got something for me?"

Yako rubbed her eyes. "I dunno. I have this headache, and I feel like I've acted stupid all day."

Godai raised his eyebrows, not really listening.

Behind him, Yako's hand covered her mouth. Something flashed over her eyes and they became cloudy again. Her stance was once again slightly slumped. She turned around and hugged Godai, sloppily kissing him on the cheek. "O-oi! Yako, what are you doing?"

Yako leaned against the back of Godai's chair, giggling. Godai swiveled around. "Hey, if you lean on that too hard..."

Godai's chair tilted back sharply and he toppled backwards, taking Yako with him. At the last second, he quickly held out a hand behind him, grabbing Yako, flipping her on top and managed to land on his back, without squashing his partner. "_Damn_." He's going to feel that bruise twice next morning.

He looked down on his chest, where Yako was. "You okay?" He shook her shoulder. "Oi, I said if you were okay. Get offa me, Katsuragi! I'm not joking..."

Behind them, a tiny eyeball clattered quietly around on its thin metal legs. Tiny holograms flickered through its pupil, and it twitched as it downloaded and sorted through the other side of the connection, Neuro's eye glowed bright green. "Trust Yako to stray off my errand and end up on top of Godai. The tramp."

Neuro snapped his fingers. "I'm tired of this Love Tool. You have failed, Yako. And I thought you would be able to clear your mind be yourself. I have overestimated you."

He looked at the clock. "Time's up. Give her the antidote."

The eyeball froze as it was, under Godai's desk. It twitched just the slightest bit... And then a tiny needle burst out of its pupil, foul-smelling liquid splashing on the floor.

It clambered up the side of the table, where Godai was helping Yako up.

It attached itself on the side of Yako's blouse, hiding under her collar as Godai leaned closer to take her temperature. Godai took out his phone and opened it, calling Neuro. No one answered.

The eyeball leaped from Yako's collar to her hair. It burrowed into hair and reached for her neck...

Outside, Yako had been kicked out of Godai's office, told to return to Neuro. The eyeball crawled down her neck and was just about to inject the solution when...

Its existence flickered out.

Neuro blinked.

Yako held up two fingers, an inch apart, green slime dripping from them. She tilted her head and looked at the droplets as it fell towards the floor. Her left was still cloudy but her right eye was bright and clear as it used to be.

She forced her breathing to become regular.

"Neuro..."

"I can break the spell by myself..."

"... So I don't need your help..."

Her right arm twitched, but her left arm shot out and grabbed it before it could put the last drops of the antidote into her mouth.

Her left eye began to clear.

She held herself still and tense for a long time. Neuro watched from the eyes of another one of his spies.

Her left eye began to clear. Yako began to smile, shakily.

"And, besides..." She brushed her fingers on her skirt and straightened up, eyes both clear brown and focused.

"... The antidote was probably poison, anyway, wasn't it..."

"... Neuro?"


	3. Chapter 3

Yako woke up from a deep sleep and had the faint recollection of being carried.

_Neuro!_

She got up from the sofa and looked around. His desk was empty, and Akane was drying up on demonic power- turning gray. He had been gone for a long time.

She ran to the bathroom and looked into the mirror.

"Thank god. He didn't draw anything." She rubbed her face and and checked any uncovered skin. "He didn't attach anything weird either."

She grinned to her reflection. "Maybe he finally respects me enough that he wouldn't-"

The bathroom door slammed open. Neuro strode in, holding up a giant needle.

"Gaaah- Neuro, get out! This is the women's bathroom! What's the giant needle for?!"

Neuro grabbed her face and lifted her off the floor. He pointed the needle to her face and chuckled. "You see, I suddenly realized a suitable punishment for you. Permanent marker isn't really permanent, right? Well, I've discovered tattoos! So everything I do to you right now will stay with you forever!"

"Wha-What!?"

"Don't worry, I have alcohol and painkillers- the demon kind, that puts off the pain and returns it ten times worse- I have also researched tattoos, you couldn't get better quality anywhere... So! Where do you want my signature?"

* * *

"It wasn't actually that bad." Yako stared at her wrist. "You actually did quite a good job. And you were so fast I didn't even feel a thing until you were done."

Neuro looked up from his stack of papers. "Do you want a painkiller?" He held up a squirming bug that had been shot full of chemicals with a blank face. Crawling out of a jar on his desk and sliding around his desk were some slugs and centipedes, all clearly drugged.

"Eh... No."

"It's very high quality. Returns the pain twenty-fold."

"How is that better quality?!"

Yako examined the three lines on her wrists. An artistically scripted '_Neuro_', a '**GODAI**', a 'Akane' ran around her wrist like a bracelet. "Only one problem..."

Neuro was at once pressing her face to the ceiling. "Oh? Do you have a problem with my artistic work? Your impudence..."

"Neuro, let go of me! I meant to say that if I were in a situation where I needed a disguise- they would recognize me by this tattoo." Neuro let her go and sent her sprawling on the floor. "You fool. Did you think I would think of that? That is demonic ink- it can only be seen by who means you no harm... A good detector of liars, too. Don't get a big head now just because you got over a weak tool."

"S-sorry."

Neuro turned around from the ceiling and looked down at her. "However, you have finally learned to think for yourself, Yako. I am proud."

Yako looked up at him sarcastically. "I am so pleased, master."

Neuro let go of the ceiling and trapped Yako under him, arm on either side of her shoulders. "Say that again."

Yako could see his sharp teeth gleaming. "S-say what? Uh... If I were in a-"

"No, after that."

"Um... I am so pleased?"

"Yako."

"... Master?"

"Say it as if it was not a question!"

"Master!"

"Whisper it."

"Master."

Neuro leaned in and stared into her eyes for a long moment. Then he closed his eyes. And then he was back in his seat. Yako blinked. She looked over to him.

Neuro was grinning from ear to ear.

Yako's eyes narrowed. "What did I do?"

"I have chosen what you are to call me from now on."

"Oh, no."

"Neuro was always too informal- from now on it will either be 'Master' or 'Master Neuro'."

"... How about Nougami?"

"You have finally found something to get me into a good mood, Yako. Be proud."

"Of what? That every time you get pissed off I'd have to call you 'Master' over and over again?"

"Exactly."

"I'm hungry. I'm going out for some food. When I come back, we'll talk."

* * *

A few hundred sandwiches and half her week's pay later...

"Hey, Neuro- Nougami. Why did you give Higuchi that envelope? Did you need help finding the antidote?" Yako smeared mayonnaise on a slice of bread and stuck a slice of ham between that slice and another one.

"I was just too busy taking care of a few side mysteries to bother to find your antidote."

"... It wasn't used in the end anyways."

"How was it?"

"How was what?"

"..."

"Well, it was all kind of distanced and blurry. I did stuff I would have never done in my right mind."

Neuro didn't look up from his work. "Did you develop a liking to that freedom?"

"What?"

Neuro turned his face and looked at Yako. "The Love Tool is a drug for many humans. It destroys most of the conscience and the normal constraints of humanity. Most humans wouldn't go around kissing anyone they liked."

"How would humans get their hands on that sort of tool?"

"Demons would trick the humans into taking a small amount, and then a larger amount, and then get them addicted to the freedom of it all. We use it to get weak humans more easily under our control."

"I didn't really like it... It was more embarrassing than anything else. What happened after I passed out in Godai's hallway?"

"Godai drove you back here and I explained it all to him."

"Did someone carry me up the stairs?"

"I did."

"_You_?"

"You were burning up as an aftereffect of the tool. That's another thing- withdrawal effects, but I've already implanted stuff into your body a few years back that fought that exceptionally well. Godai was losing it, despite my assurances."

"Jeez, now I gotta... Wait a moment. You implanted stuff in my body a few years back?!"

"It was a side effect of being around me so much- my demon cells released as I became more and more human attached themselves to your skin and got sucked in. You got some very positive results from that."

"... I thought a sudden increase in stamina was on account of running around all the time."

"That too."

"... Are there demon cells still in the air?"

"You can't see it, but their clumping all over you. Especially the sandwich."

"Eek! What is that? I saw something nasty-green on my sandwich!" Yako threw the sandwich as far as she could away from her and started to ran her hands all over her skirt and shirt. "W-was that your cells?!"

Neuro chuckled. He waved a fluffy dark-green bundle of yarn that he had placed on sandwich when Yako wasn't looking "To think you'd fall for such a trick. Cells are extremely small. I'd have to have my micro-eye out to see them, and that takes energy. Energy I'd rather not waste. You thought that _you_ could see my cells?"

"Hey, hey, you made me drop my sandwich!"

* * *

Yako ran a comb through Akane's long black hair. "I'm sorry for causing all that trouble and not getting any work done today, Akane."

Akane waved a strand of hair lazily. Yako rubbed conditioner into the hair and dipped the strands into a bucket of water. She then dried off her hands on a towel.

She sighed and leaned back on the wall. She watched as Akane wiggled her hair in the bucket.

"They all... Didn't react at all."

Akane stopped wiggling.

Yako stared out the window, where the sunset was painting the sky orange. Neuro was off doing _whatever_ again, things that he didn't need her as a fake detective to hold off curious inspectors.

"I kissed all of them, but they didn't... Seem affected at all."

Akane lifted a lock of hair out of the water and shook it feebly.

"Yeah, I know, Godai blushed and Higuchi seemed surprised, but they... All just seemed as if they were more embarrassed than anything else- as if they were thinking of ways to reject me without hurting my feelings."

Akane scribbled a few encouraging words on her whiteboard.

Yako pushed her lock of hair back underwater.

"Let me speak. And then there's Neuro."

Akane sank deeper into the water. She felt somehow like she didn't want to hear this part.

"He didn't even react. He just pushed me away and put his poker face on."

Akane pointed frantically at the pile of dust labeled 'old desk,' but Yako wasn't looking at her.

"But, that may be a good thing."

Akane froze.

"Maybe we should just be coworkers, you know? Actually, that was what we were supposed to be, even less actually. Master and servant, demon and human, but somehow, I got this idea that..."

Akane was shaking her hair all around.

Yako shook her head and turned her head from the sunset and looked at Akane, who had pulled all of her hair out of the water for effect. "Never mind. Hey, you're supposed to be in the water! Your hair will dry up like that, the conditioner is going to affect you really bad if you don't wash it off soon!"

Akane tried to reach the white board, but her wet braid slipped.

Yako nodded to herself. "Yeah. The insensitive Neuro definitely wouldn't be able to get my feelings. I should give up on him. It'll be formal from now on."

"That's probably what he would have wanted anyway."

The sunlight's orange streaks on the wall slowly dulled and turned red. And then the end of the day came the and the moonlight drifted in with its silvery glow.


	4. Chapter 4

Neuro's phone beeped. He picked it up. "Yako? She called me?" He thought about it for a moment. "Well, well. Is this what it feels like to be pleasantly surprised?" He flipped it open. "Although, that pleasantness might be short-lived."

"Yes, slave number 1?"

"Neuro..."

"Hm?"

"I opened my bedroom door... There's a huge fog of green gases in there. Care to explain?"

* * *

Yako watched as her house was sectioned off with police tape. She turned back to the guy in a yellow anti-radioactive-material suit in front of her. "Yeah, I closed the door as soon as I saw what was in my bedroom. Do you know what it is?"

"Where did you get gases of this sort, miss?"

"Uh... My subordinate, he accidentally left something in my bedroom, I guess."

"You generally allow your subordinates in your bedroom, miss?"

"Huh? No! It's not like that, he, uh, needed something..."

"From your bedroom?" Neuro appeared out from behind Yako. "Sensei! I'm sorry! I must have left the test tube after our tryst. I'm so sorry!" Yako blinked. "Neuro! Wait a m-moment! Tryst?! No- it's not-"

The guy in the safety suit had already processed the information as fact. "Yes, yes, test tube?"

"It was something new from the labs. Surely nobody's bare skin has come in contact with it yet? It's extremely dangerous." The guy clumsily scribbled down words on his notepad. "Oh, no, no! What... Does it do exactly?"

"Oh," Neuro looked right and then left. "I'm not supposed to tell you... But..." He leaned in and whispered something into the guy's ear. He choked. "God!"

"Yeah," Neuro nodded solemnly. Yako pulled on his sleeve. Her curiosity burned inside of her. What did you say? She shot at Neuro with her eyes, but he pretended not to see.

"How are we supposed to clean this up?"

Neuro shook his head. "No, no, you don't have to bother. We have very specialized teams for this. You may all leave. If any of your bosses have any questions, please call the number on this card." The man took the card, and froze. He stared at the card for a second, and then he turned as if a puppet on strings. "Boys, time to go!" His voice came out funny and forced. "Alright, pack up, men!"

Yako had an idea what was on the card. Going around and hypnotizing people... Jeez. In a few minutes, everyone was gone. Neuro grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground. "Who told you to call the radioactive material department, eh?"

"Ack... It wasn't my fault. I screamed, and then my neighbor..."

"Oh, so your neighbors know about this as well?'

"... Yeah..."

"Yako, you are a messy worker, just as messy as the manner in which you eat."

"I'm sorry. I called you right after, didn't I?"

"That was the least you could do."

"Well, can you clean it up now? Please?"

"... Please, who?"

"Huh?"

"..."

"Oh. But... You were the one who put the gas ball in my phone in the first place!"

"..." Neuro tapped his foot.

"Fine."

"Can you clean it up now, please, _master_?"

Neuro let go of Yako. She landed on her feet, used to being dropped. Neuro was already gone. And when she blinked again, Neuro was back. He was holding a tiny metal ball between his thumb and pointer finger. "This is a special gas ball from Hell. It can be reused over and over again if collected properly."

"Is that a very subtle threat of it's re-usage?"

"Hm? Now, I think that shock has gotten to you. How did you _ever_ get such an idea? Here, get into the car." He placed a hand carefully on her shoulder.

Yako climbed into the car without comment. And then, just as Nuero shut the door, she stopped him. "Hey, where're we going? I thought my shift was over." Neuro bared his teeth into her face. She didn't flinch. "There's still residue gas in your room. If you'd like, I can let you sleep in your bedroom, or..."

"I'd rather sleep in my poisonous-gassed-bedroom than wherever you go at night."

"Oh, Yako. It's just the workplace. You can sleep on the sofa bed." Neuro ignored her further complaints and closed the door. Then he walked up to the front and got in.

Yako didn't remember falling asleep as he drove.

She did remember seeing the deep, dark night outside.

* * *

Yako felt warm sunlight on her face. Her head was leaning against a plastic-leather surface. She was on the compact sofa-bed in the Detective Agency.

She shifted a bit and then felt something on her stomach. She lifted the blanket slightly with a hand.

There was a long and lightly muscled arm on her belly, over her crumpled white blouse. The arm curved up and its hand ended up right over hers.

The sofa bed was a two-person bed.

And she could see the hair of the other inhabitant. The yellow hair with purple bangs.

The door opened.

Godai stepped through, holding up a pair of keys and a huge stack of papers. "Yo, Neuro, when is the dang replacement computerrr-"

He stared at the sofa bed and the inhabitants for a moment. After a long pause, he turned around, opened the door, and walked straight out. He closed the door behind him firmly.

Yako scowled. "Oi, Godai! Where are you going?"

Godai dropped something on the other side of the door. "Tell him to get dressed."

Yako's eye twitched. "Don't assume now, he's dressed! Of course, why wouldn't he be, we were just sharing a place to sleep-"

She lifted the blanket.

...

She set it back down.

"Give him ten minutes!"

* * *

"Well, where else am I supposed to sleep?" Neuro calmly sipped a bubbling green mixture from a weirdly shaped glass bottle. The color of the liquid changed frequently. Yako was positive that the mixture was poisonous. Yako nudged Godai with her chopsticks.

"Does he usually sleep naked?" She mumbled through her sushi. Godai shook his head. Yako glared up at Neuro. "So why yesterday night of all nights?!"

Neuro shrugged. "It was hot and I didn't feel like keeping on the clothes that I had collected poisonous gases in." Yako sighed. "Those measly little poisonous gases couldn't have even fried a singe hair on your head... At very least keep on a pair of boxers or shorts or something." Godai choked on his black coffee.

Neuro looked up. "_Oh_? You saw that I didn't wear anything on that area? Naughty, naughty!"

Yako's left eye twitched again. "I didn't mean to, goddammit! What sort of person- or demon, would strip and go into bed with a coworker? I was thinking that surely you'd have at least something on!"

Godai wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Problem was that he didn't."

"Exactly!"

Godai sighed and set his bowl of rice down on a stack of paper. "I didn't come here to see Neuro naked, or imagine him like that either, so anyways..." He tossed Yako a folder. "Things have been quiet for a while now. Getting suspicious. Someone might be stealing business. Usually you'd be swamped- since Neuro would only do the big ones, and help out only when he felt like it, but now..."

Yako flipped the folder open. "It started just after I took the Love Tool."

Neuro blinked, his disinterested expression disappearing.

"Whoever the person was- let's called him X, he probably thought I'd be too unfocused to work, and decided to start his business right when I was flirting with a bunch of different guys."

Neuro raised a finger.

Yako nodded. "Oh, right. Person X should actually be Demon X 'cause he had the Love Tool."

Neuro shook his finger.

"Fine, we can only assume that Person X is either a demon or someone with connections with one."

Neuro tilted his head.

"Or some giant science and tech lab made a discovery on chemistry and fashioned a Love Tool from scratch."

Neuro nodded, satisfied.

Godai rubbed his forehead. "What is up with you two? Sign language? Psychic connection? Insanity?"

* * *

Neuro looked up at Yato, who was hanging from the chandelier precariously. "It's not a demon. I would have felt it if another demon broke free from Hell. And the ones who are already here have been... _Talked_ to by me."

"You mean talked to as in threatened by death?"

"Now, now, what were you thinking? _Of course_ not, Yako. Do you really think so horribly of me?"

"Oh, so I was chained to the chandelier by accident."

"Yes, yes. Shall I get out the chainsaw?"

"It has three locks. How exactly is this an accident?"

"Now, back on topic, Yako. It couldn't have been a demon that was new from Hell, so it must have been a human."

"With ties to a demon?"

"No."

"Then, how?"

"Think, Yako. Use that tiny little brain of yours."

"I have a feeling." Yako fidgeted away from the hot light bulbs. Her chain clattered and clinked. Neuro nodded for her to continue.

"The Love Tool that I broke from... It wasn't very strong, was it?"

"You broke free from it so, no."

"That means it was made... And then taken and transported." Neuro widened his eyes. "Correct."

"So... I have a question."

"Ask away."

"Is it possible... For a human to enter Hell?"

Neuro blinked for a shocked second, and then burst into laughter. Yako winced. Her chain shattered and metal hit the floor. In the space of a second she was on Neuro's lap, with his hand in her hair. He leaned in and stared at her surprised face. "Now, Yako, where have you_ been_? Where, exactly, do you think a corrupted human being goes after he has died?"

Yako pushed his face away with both her hands. His chest was still vibrating from laughter. "Not after death! I mean, can a human enter Hell, contract a small deal with a demon- like a promise of a future on Earth, get a Tool for a limited time, and then come back to Earth?"

Neuro didn't say anything for a moment. It wasn't much, but Yako couldn't remember a time she had rendered him speechless for any amount of time.

After that moment passed Neuro looked back at Yako, just a hint of surprise in his gaze.

"It has happened before, actually, but none of them actually made it back with their sanity intact."

Yako felt like she had just derailed off to dangerous territory. Before Neuro could say a word, she pinched his cheek. "Just saying this once! You're never gonna make me go to hell in your life!"

Neuro didn't say a single word, but instead silently began to chain her up again. Accidentally, of course.


	5. Chapter 5

Yako, Godai and Neuro sat around a small round table at Godai's office.

The dull, flickering lamp sat at the middle of the table.

In the dim light, Neuro's eyes glinted and glowed green.

Godai reached inside his jacket and pulled out his gun.

Yako held up her hand and...

Tossed down her last card. "Oi! I won! Poker, you jackasses!"

Neuro tossed down his cards (2) and Godai raised his gun and fired, shooting a hole through all of his cards (6) and blasting one of Neuro's eyeball spies to metal pieces and slime.

"No cheating." He muttered as he blew smoke off of his barrel.

Yako grinned. "Ahaha! Neuro, you only win if you have information to go by! Thank you, Godai~! I knew if we continued playing, there would be a time where his calculations and probabilities would find a fault! Woohoo~! Free lunch tomorrow!"

Akane held up a chalkboard and drew a line.

Godai looked over. "So... That makes 397 for Neuro, 1 for Yako, and 0 for Godai."

Yako poked his cheek with a finger. "It doesn't matter, we managed to one-up him before 500 games- that's a record! Free lunch tomorrow for both us because Neuro has to pay. Although, it does surprise me that you're a horrible player. Usually all those gangsta men like you are really good."

Godai brushed her away. "What do you mean, I'm a horrible player?!"

Yako smiled at him. "No, it's just that you curse all the time but I sorta can tell the difference between the real ones and the fake ones because the real ones gives me goosebumps but the fake ones aren't scary at all."

Godai glared at her once more and then abruptly let go and went back to shuffling cards.

Yako's eyes sparkled as she contemplated tomorrow's buffet. "What shall I get? What shall I get? Ooh, sushi seems good... But cake seems better... Since we had sushi today..."

Neuro stood up and before both of them could realize what was happening, pulled Yako and Godai into the air, one person on each hand. "Godai, get back to wherever you go after work." He tossed him out the door. Yako winced when she heard him hit the wall. Something definitely broke.

She wriggled out of Neuro's grip and folded up the blackboard. "Don't be a sore loser, Neuro."

She set it down next to Akane. Then she grabbed her jacket.

Neuro looked up. "Where are you going?"

Yako waved her keys. "Home."

"The poisonous gas doesn't clear that fast. Surely I wouldn't be so neglectful to kill you without also disposing of anyone who should find you in three days or so."

Yako dropped her jacket. "But you cleared the gas up!"

"Yes, surely you would like to have your face peeled off by residue? Carry on, now."

* * *

Yako sat opposite Neuro, drinking a small cup of sugary coffee. "Why would someone go so far just to keep me out of work? Can't they just buy some regular old laxatives and ship me to the hospital for a few days?"

Neuro pulled up a chart, which had numerous photos and reviews written by Akane. He tapped on it with a finger and looked down at Yako with a sad, disappointed face. "Now, look here, Yako, and tell me what you see." He said slowly as if she would not comprehend it without adequate time.

Yako glared at him over the steam rising from her coffee. "It's just my mother cooking me breakfast."

"Exactly." Neuro pulled out a chart and a typed sheet of paper. He pulled a pair of fake glasses on and read over the paper. "She was feeding you fried bacon and titanium sheets. And, according to her, you loved it."

Yako ripped the paper in half. "I wasn't _that_ dense! Of course I didn't eat the sheets! I ate the bacon! I put the titanium sheets in the garage!"

Neuro reassembled the paper and glued it together perfectly. He continued reading. "That was the surprising part. You see, the day before that breakfast, she went into the hardware store to buy titanium sheets, but she didn't just leave with that. She also left with a sample of a new type of metal anti-rust liquid."

Yako choked. Hot coffee spilled on her shirt. She started to wipe it off clumsily.

Neuro continued."That particular polisher was discontinued because it was determined... Lethal in even the smallest doses. Your mother, however... She never found a good use for it, so instead, she mixed it up with oil and cooked all your favorite foods with it."

Yako leaned her head back. "Oh, god. This sounds like something my mother would do."

"Surprisingly, you had no side effects at all. Despite your weak appearance and no fighting skills to speak of, your stomach is very adaptable."

Yako sighed. "So... You're saying they had to get me something that would overpower my stomach, since a perfect trap was to put it in food, but any other human poison would either put them on the government's suspicious list and therefore cut off customer's trust, so they had to get something powerful but still not known to the government?"

Neuro pulled out a long list. "Many of the demon poisons were already know by the government- they don't know what it is exactly, but they've named it and they know the effects. Although sometimes the drugged victims were just put in the insane asylum and their behavior blamed on any human sickness they could get their hands on."

Yako set her coffee down. "So he was left with the Love Tool? Why would he still go on with that?"

Neuro tossed all the paper away. "This mystery is extremely bland. Fueled by simple greed... It is distasteful. But I have to squelch that tiny bit of resistance before it gets any bigger. What a waste of energy."

Yako stood up. "You mean...!"

He folded his fingers together. "That person didn't need to gain access to hell. Someone was disobeying me... Right here."

"What do we know about him?"

"The demon is very weak. If all that demon could come up with was a Love Tool, he's probably holding on the hope that he's too small to be found, or to be bothered about. I don't think he really meant any harm."

"So... All this was just a joke?! I-I kissed three guys- this is not a funny joke!" Yako picked up a newspaper. "The headlines are saying I'm drunk! I've got to apologize to Higuchi, and then Godai... And you!"

Yako walked over, around the chair and used both of her hands to cup Neuro's cheeks. And then she pinched them. Hard. "I know you know who it was. But I'll figure it out by myself. Understand?"

Neuro held up a tiny sheet of paper with his observations on it and nodded. He lit it on fire with one of his fingers. Then, as the smoke drifted away, he pointed down, to where Yako's wet coffee stain was rubbing off to his crisp, white shirt.

Yako blanched and felt a chill run down her spine.

He slowly drew a line from one side of her neck to the other with his finger.


	6. Chapter 6

Yako opened her eyes and lifted her hands. She stretched and lifted her blanket... And blinked twice in quick succession. "This has _got_ to be a joke..."

She made her hands into fists.

Then, she slammed them down on the shoulder, the _bare_ shoulder, of the person, of the _demon_ next to her.

Neuro turned around and opened his mouth. Yako shoved her pillow into his face, blocking his range of view. "I know, I know! I shouldn't care if you're naked or not because of your infected or dirtied clothes but..."

"WHY AM_ I_ NAKED TOOOO?!"

* * *

Godai handed her a neatly printed sheet of paper. "I'll need this filled out by lunch, Yako."

Yako nodded absently and chewed on the tip of her pen. She set the paper aside without looking at it. Yako typed a few more words into the computer and then leaned back on Neuro's chair. She grabbed her phone and flipped it open, pressing her first speed-dial number.

"Neuro... For case #237... What am I supposed to tell the police about how we found out that he had the jewels with him? He swallowed the gems and they were in a container so the normal security detectors didn't go off... And no, I can't say demon tools or intuition for this... We got _surgery_ done on his stomach, we have got to have block evidence that we had the _right_ to do that, even if he really was the thief at the end!"

Godai watched as she paused for a moment.

"... But how the hell did we get a x-ray all the way to Russia if I only brought a small suitcase?! And by the way, detectors that can instantly and accurately determine the location of a jewel through human skin and his thick, anti-scan clothing... Not to mention it had to be small enough that I could have scanned him without him noticing!"

Yako tilted her head and twirled her pen into the air. "No, I will NOT say that I engaged in sexual contact with him to undress him for scanning- for God's sake he's alive, they'll get the truth out in no time! No, wait! Don't _kill_ him! I'm still not going with the sex theory either way."

She paused, listening to the tone at the other end. "Oh, fine! I'll just say that we got the metal detector from some shady doctor friend of ours! Out of nowhere! Without leaving the hotel even once besides to the crime scene!"

Yako slammed the phone closed and tossed it away. She slid back to the computer and quickly and angrily typed up the rest of the report.

After typing furiously for a few minutes, she sat back, read it over and then nodded to herself slightly. "This _should_ pull us through... Whatever. They can't really argue with us on this. We are their top detectives. f they do have any problems, though, Neuro could take care of that with some tool he has... But then he'll be pissed off at me for making a terrible report and causing him to use that energy."

"Dammit. Lose-Lose situation. Oh, well." She hit enter and then stretched. "Woo~! Last report of the month and I've filled my detective quota. Free three days before the next month and the new mysteries it holds! Unless someone decides to murder someone else in the next three days, I'm taking a break."

She swung her leg to and fro, and then noticed the slip of paper Godai had given her. "Oh, yeah, this. I wonder what it could be..."

She flipped it open. "It's a flier..."

She read aloud the words her eyes ran through without thinking. "Save sex for after marriage-"

Her right eye twitched.

She looked up. Now that she thought of it, Godai had been running around pasting the green fliers and magazines around. There was a condom sitting in her pencil cup and it wasn't there before. There was another one in her bag. As she pulled open her drawer, she saw few more mixed in with her candy bars, erasers, and paper clips.

Yako crumbled up the paper.

"God, Godai. We didn't do_ it_," she shouted. "Goddammit, how did you even know he was the same _down there_ anyways?!"

Yako tossed the paper ball away.

A slight breeze wafted in and ruffled the numerous green slips that she suddenly noticed that were expertly and sneakily placed around the the room.

Her paper shredder will be busy today.

* * *

Neuro watched as the silly human investigators swarm the place and gape as his deductions proved to be true and the bloody knife was found in the murderer's freshly potted daises, along with a severed hand and the missing ring.

His stomach made a disappointed noise. A mystery? _Don't make me laugh_, he thought. The thought put in the murder was just about equal to the thought put in the unraveling of it- in Neuro's case, approximately thirteen simple connections and clues.

Neuro took his leave. Yako attracted mysteries that had_ energy_ in them like the plague. Time to go back home.

Neuro froze, his foot lifted up in the air, just about to be set down in a step. Around him, people walked on but he didn't move.

Home.

Home?

_Home?!_

Just when had he begun to refer to his workplace as home?

This was not home, _h__ell_ was home.

Neuro set his foot down and continued walking. As he turned a corner, he passed a poster hanging on a furniture store's window and the slogan seared itself int his memory.

_Home is where your loved ones are._

Well, he certainly didn't have any loved ones in hell.

* * *

Yako researched all the major detective agencies, especially ones that had been losing profit since she began- and then narrowing them down by looking at which ones had better business days when she was out daydreaming from the love tool.

She found one that matched the exact description. And then she found their best detective. She called their number and sat through an aggravating voice-mail, left a message, and then hung up.

Just as soon as the phone touched the base again, it started ringing. Yako grabbed it and pressed it to her ear. "Yes?"

A hand reached through the receiver and grabbed her face. "Yako. Ignore your silly trickster for now. I've got a real mystery. Get over here, now!"

It was an order. Yako immediately dropped all her items, jumped up, and tossed on her coat. In a few seconds, she was down the stairs and out the door.

* * *

Neuro grabbed Yako by the neck as soon as she got to the porch of the house that the victim lived in. It was in a secluded, western-style neighborhood. The ones that popped up in the suburbs around the city for the more well-off people.

Yako was dragged into the main bedroom, where she landed on the bed, right next to the dead body of a woman who was young enough to still be in college.

Her neck was missing.

The head sat on the pillow, eyes closed, sleeping peacefully. From the head to the shoulders, there was nothing but a surprisingly small pool of blood. The shoulder were showing from above the covers, which covered her from her chest to her toes.

An extremely clean, professional cut. Barely any blood.

The lady was wearing a dress that ended above the knee. It had a tank top shape on top. The dress was light yellow, with floral patterns, not a nightdress. There weren't even any blood stains on it.

Yako swallowed hard. She moved away from the corpse. it was a really well planned out murder, that's for sure. The neck could have been removed with a laser ray for all they could see. If they had placed a scarf from her shoulder to the remaining edge of her neck that was under the chin, Yako would have thought that the lady was just sleeping.

She looked around the room. Her detective sense already told her there was nothing to observe. The reporters were already pushing their way into the house. The police were uselessly searching the room for clues.

This had been very very carefully planned. There couldn't be anything left. She turned to Neuro. "This is the sort of case you would see in the newspaper that would lay unsolved for decades and then will never be solved."

"Her neck, Yako, did not just remove itself on its own."

"This house is the victim's, right?"

"Of course."

"She's pretty young. How did she earn up so much money to buy a house right after getting out of school?"

"This house was given to her."

"Let me guess... Classic shady male character? Rich player? Hidden psychopath?" A hand tapped Yato on the shoulder. She jumped and turned around. The man who tapped her withdrew his hand and stepped back.

"What are you doing here?" He said. He was the type of person whose face was set in perpetual disappointment. Yako would guess he was around 30 or maybe a little more.

"And... Who might you be?"

"A top detective of your rival company, Yako." Neuro whispered through his teeth.

Yako blinked. "Oh. Um. Hi."

The detective snorted. "Hello, there, miss Yako. I suppose you deem yourself too advanced too go on your knees and search through the dust?"

Yako forced a smile. "I'm sorry. I was thinking that the professional that performed this murder wouldn't have been careless, so try as we might we won't find anything anyways. I thought I'd ask my partner here on her past first... And then you walked in. So... What are you doing here? Wasn't this case assigned to me?"

He raised both his eyebrows, making a weird expression. Yato kept a straight face. "No, actually, you are mistaken, Yato. This case has been taken by my detective agency. You are not supposed to be here."

Yato glared at Neuro. _You understand that we are NOT supposed to be here?! You jackass! _Was her eyes' message to him.

"... Oh, well, then. That's a downer... This seems like a pretty interesting case, still." She paused. The silence stretched out. "So... I guess maybe if you don't manage to solve this mystery-" The man sliced Yako's heart straight in half with a piercing hate-filled glare. "-O-or, I could help you out a little... Well, bye."

She grabbed Neuro and get the hell out of there as fast as she possibly could.

* * *

"Don't you understand that I shouldn't have been there?! For god's sake why did you call me over?"

Neuro continued walking fast. "Mysteries are not supposed to be assigned or taken. It's all a matter of who can solve it and who cannot. The idea of having to lurk around and perhaps solve the case into his favor is almost sickening. They would definitely lock him up before I get to drain his passion. Then I'd have to use unnecessary energy to break into jail..."

"Well, then, all the boring mysteries of a missing dog or wallet would never be solved! No one would bother to solve that one if they hadn't been assigned!"

"I am a demon, Yako, I do not search for puppies. Our company is now above that. Any mystery without taste that could fulfill my hunger will not be accepted by me. You will do those by yourself."

"Of course! That's why I'm always found on the streets with dog biscuits and bacon!"

"They will never be able to solve this case."

"Don't underestimate humans. I'm sure they'll be just fine. Neuro! My point in all this is that you can't just barge in on every case you come across! And you can't pull me in either!"

Neuro abruptly turned around and stopped right in the middle of the crowded street. People passed by them. Yato bumped into his chest. His sharp eyes look straight down into hers. Yako could see her own tiny, tiny reflection.

"I can do what I want to do, Yako. I am a demon from hell. And I can kill you with a snap of my fingertips. Or have you forgotten that?"


	7. Chapter 7

Yako heard her alarm clock ring. She closed it and stretched. It was an off-day, but Neuro usually expected her to arrive at any new case that might pop up anyway. But her phone didn't ring, so nothing had occurred yet. Ah, how nice it was to be back in her queen-sized bed and not on that dratted couch at the company office. Her sheets were clean, the poison was gone, and the sun is shining outside.

Maybe she'll get a real rest day today.

She glanced over. Neuro, fully dressed, lay on her bed with his eyes closed.

Ha ha, nope.

Yako sighed. "I'm already used to it. Neuro, wake up. At least this time you're not naked." He opened his eyes. "Yako, I have not slept in three days. If you tell me to wake up once more, I will pull off all your fingernails and toenails and send them to hell. They're supposed to be quite the delicacy. Maybe I'll even send your fingers back too. I hope you haven't been using nail polish."

"... Just don't drool, okay? I'll die."

His eyes were closed again, not paying any attention.

"And move over, you're taking all over the bed. Get off the blankets!" She murmured, tugging them out from under his weight.

He got off and got under the covers.

She turned around and wrapped her arms around his waist. He was way too warm. Like a heater. He could sleep over in the winter then. How much would she save from heating costs? Enough to buy how many slices of cake? Yeah. He s definitely welcome in the winter.

She opened her eyes.

Neuro was preparing a giant centipede for its adventure to her face. He as pumping it with chemicals and setting it on a launch-pad.

Yako let go of him and shuffled away to the very corner of the bed. Never mind. He is never getting in here again.

* * *

Yako picked up the news and her cup of coffee and sat down at the coffee table in the living room. Neuro hung from the ceiling.

"Oh, look, the detective back there solved the case."

Neuro opened his eyes. "Impossible."

Yako tossed him the paper. "Front page."

He grabbed it deftly and glanced at the top, and then laughed. The paper dissolved into flame and then into ash.

Yako winced. It wasn't the most charming, soothing chuckle of the world.

"They're sending an innocent man to jail, Yako, and since you're a woman who doesn't _barge in on mysteries_ I suppose you're completely fine with trusting the detective's judgement, correct?"

Yako froze. Her coffee splashed over the edge of the cup that it sat in.

Neuro continued speaking without pausing. "I can see their point of view. The man was the lover that the woman seemed to have had troubles with. He's rich wealthy, handsome. He has the key to the house that he gave her. The house that she died in after saying she'd think about his marriage proposal two nights ago."

"A overly wealthy young man getting rejected for the first time by a poor college girl who lives in a gift that he had bought for her... Seems like a perfect candidate to pin it on. The key to the house which he says he had lost was found in his drawer, with his fingerprint right on it. Bloodstains, of course, and the like all around some kitchen utensils. A few strands of hair, and now he's in jail."

Yako glared up at Neuro. "How do you now he's innocent."

"Oh you know that, Yako."

"Who did it? Who killed her?"

"Only the corpse and I know that secret."

Yako fumed. He wasn't going to open up. She knew the young man- whoever he was- didn't cut the throat. A spoiled rich boy couldn't possibly find a saw and cleanly remove a section of his former girlfriend's body... Which was a professional, trained cut, mind you, and then dump all the evidence in the exact locations where the police were definitely going to look.

* * *

Yako wiped off the chalkboard in the office, cleaning off the past two weeks of deduction. She grabbed a new piece of chalk and scribbled in giant characters: SUSPECTS and then she set the chalk down and grabbed her laptop.

Night fell

It was dark outside. Neuro was off taking care of another mystery. Godai was off torturing someone into paying their debts. Yako closed the windows and locked the door. Being alone and without either her bodyguard or demon left her almost protection-less. Akane sat in a tiny tub of conditioner-infused water. There was a gun in the cupboard.

She was perfectly safe.

Ha, who was she kidding she doesn't know how to use a gun.

A branch snapped outside and Yako jumped. Shadows began to filter in through the moonlight. The list of suspects she made seemed to become hazy and unimportant. Her heart was thumping. The room was cold. The windows were cold.

It was too quiet.

"Oh, please, Neuro, come back quickly..." Yako murmured. Her hand was clenched around her phone. There was a terrible feeling at the bottom of her stomach. Her gut instincts were almost always right.

The door opened. In a flash Yako was in the cupboard. She slid the gun from out under a cereal box and slowly flipped the safety off. She pressed the barrel against the cupboard's wooden door, ready to fire once it opened.

Whoever the person was didn't find what he was looking for. He sat in Neuro's chair, trying to bypass the password Neuro had set on the computer. There wasn't even an on button for the computer or any boxes for manual password input.

For Yako, to turn the thing on she had to sit in front of it and say, "Neuro is an exceptional master." with a straight face. Loudly. Three times. It took her three days of shouting praises for Neuro before she cracked into his computer. Once inside, a barrage of manual passwords halted her hacking. After three more hours, she gave up on its secrets and nearly tossed the damn thing out the window.

She had the faintest suspicion that the computer had complete access to the Deep Web and had those passwords to keep the FBI and hackers off its tail as it cataloged every criminal record it could find and sent it straight to Neuro.

Yako heard the door slam behind the man as he left. Yako knew who he was by then. It was the face in the newspaper. The man who was supposed to be in jail- or at the very least under house arrest.

The young man who was convicted of killing his girlfriend.

* * *

Neuro walked into his office and took off his dark blue suit jacket. He looked around. He sniffed the air and grinned. Something had taken place here. He walked over to Yako's desk and breathed in her scent, and then followed it to...

The cupboard?

"Did she receive a vision from God and decide to live with her beloved foods in the pantry...?"

He slid open the cupboard door and peeked in.

Yako sat curled up inside, holding a .38 gun with both hands, with her two pointer finger both on the trigger. She sat in the back corner with the gun angled to be able to shoot no matter how the guy tried to get in. The other side of the cabinet was sealed off to the wall. If the man wanted to get her out, he had to brave the bullets. Neuro knew for a fact she had a full round. He checked every day. Half a dozen pieces of metal. More than enough to kill a single human.

A perfect position.

That is, if she wasn't fast asleep.

Neuro pried the gun from her hand and dragged Yako out of the cabinet, dumping her unceremoniously on the sofa.

He put the gun back into the cabinet and slung Yato over his should like a she was a towel. He shut off the lights and walked out, closing the door behind him. He then ran along the wall up to the roof, almost losing hold of Yako in the process.

He wondered what sound she would make if she was thrown from his shoulder to the traffic road ten stories below. The speed of his running pushed his hair back from his face.

A _splat_? Or a _thunk_? Should he test it out? Would she still maintain most of her body parts?

No?

Could she live without a proper spine...?

Perhaps.

Maybe he should try it out.

Neuro slid to a stop right at his destination. He pulled a tiny eyeball demon tool from his pocket and slid it into Yako's doorknob's keyhole. After the tool pressed all the pins with a few _clicks_ it ran back out and beeped.

Neuro tucked it back into his pocket and swung open the door. He walked in and closed the door behind him. He didn't turn on the lights. He could see perfectly without light. He walked into Yako's bedroom and tossed Yako to approximately where her bed was, and promptly walked out.

He ran his routine check that all three guns in the house (that Yako didn't know of, but he put them where she may one day accidentally find in a time of need- for example one was in her medicine drawer in the bathroom, which she almost never opened; Neuro figured she'd only open it if she was locked in the bathroom with an injury and a killer on the other side of the door) were full on ammo, spread a few traps around to keep her on her toes, and then went back to the bedroom, where he tossed a box of extra ammunition under the bed.

Things were going to heat up. You never know what may happen. On that thought... Neuro tossed a few grenades down there as well. Who knows? When are grenades ever _not_ useful?

His scan complete, Neuro then walked up Yako's wall and attached himself to her ceiling.

And heard a rustle.

He immediately dropped down to her bed.

Someone was watching.

He couldn't sleep on the ceiling. People would wonder. Things would get messy.

He climbed into Yako's bed and pulled her to his chest. If he had to sleep with_ her_ for the whole night, at the very least he should be able to draw on her face for the meantime. Neuro pulled out his marker.

* * *

"So... You thought it would be a good idea to clamber into my bed and hug me as an unknown someone was filming?" Yako stated.

The blaring title on the newspaper screamed "FAMOUS DETECTIVE SLEEPS WITH PARTNER."

Neuro's face had his usual troll blankness. "I could have also slept on the ceiling, if you wish. The headlines might have said something different."

"_Go to hell_."

"..."

"Oh, wait... F*ck."


	8. Chapter 8

"Why would a man who is suspected of murder be allowed to freely roam around? Into a detective's office, too! He was really suspicious about it- he tried to get into your computer."

Neuro sipped a bubbling tea of green goo that had an eyeball floating in it.

"I thought you said he was innocent!"

Neuro picked up the eyeball with the tips of his fingers, squeezed it until it popped, leaking out some purple-ish liquid (with a hue of blue) into his tea. He tossed the eyeball into the trash and stirred the purple substance into his tea.

"I walked around the entire city today; all the other suspects I thought of had an alibi, a witness, and sometimes both! Who am I missing?"

"Did you check the ex-girlfriends? It's always the jealous girls." Godai mumbled around a bagel. He was cutting letters off of a newspaper to send to another overdue debt-payer.

"Yeah, of course I did. His most recent ex-girlfriend was at a concert. She had a million pictures on a social networking site to prove it, too, and a million witnesses as well. Besides, she said that he was a complete narcissist and that the only thing good about him was that he was rich... I doubt she's jealous of the victim."

Neuro sipped his now-purple-blue tea. He blew some orange smoke rings at Yako. She ducked down to avoid them. Her analysis sheet that she had been waving around in anger, however, wasn't so lucky. Flames ignited on its surface as the smoke touched it, and Yako let the paper go with a tiny yelp.

It fluttered to the ground and Yako stomped the remaining flames out.

Neuro continued drinking.

Yako fumed. She wasn't getting anything out of him.

She grabbed her bag and left, slamming the door behind her.

Neuro sat in his chair and smiled. Sometimes to solve mysteries you just had to wait.

"But still, I am disappointed in you, Yako. To think with such a large number of suspects you'd only scratch the surface."

* * *

Yako ran straight to the local jail, bypassed security with her reputation, and checked the records.

The victim's name was Kiku.

The guy who gave her the house, and broke into Yako's office was her boyfriend, Fuji.

There wasn't a single trace of any past crimes committed by either of them.

Yako tossed down the folders, grabbed her coat, and left.

She ran all the way to the address listed under the records and flashed her badge at the landlady. Once she obtained the key, she swung open the door to the messy apartment that the guy rented.

Under the thick coat of misuse, trash, and dust, the apartment was clearly high-class. The walls that faced outside of the building was made out of a one-way glass, and the view was perfect- if the guy bothered to wipe down his windows more often.

Yako ignored everything and ran into the bedroom. Once there, she immediately began to pull out drawers, glancing at the contents and memorizing their place. She pulled a tiny eyeball monster that she had stolen from Neuro and took photos of absolutely everything.

She gave special attention to the areas sealed off by police tape- the undisturbed drawer that had knife and blood and two distinct hair strands.

Once she had cataloged everything, she ran back out and tossed the key into the landlady's mailbox.

The entire event took less than five minutes.

As soon as Yako got home she ran to her computer, forced the tiny eyeball into the USB port, and printed out every photo.

When Godai found her in her office at midnight, the paper were scattered everywhere and she was asleep on the sofa. He unfolded the sofa bed and tucked her in. Then he tossed his jacket over her.

Yako sniffed a little in her sleep as Godai's scent enveloped her. She relaxed and drifted into a deeper sleep. Godai closed the lights and walked out. He wondered where Neuro was for a few seconds, but then shook his head and closed the door behind him.

He was sure Neuro would protect Yako from whatever that might endanger her.

He had nothing to worry about.

Except for Neuro himself.

* * *

Yako woke up to an odd coldness.

He sat up, wondering why she felt so odd.

She looked around. Sunlight heated up sections of Neuro's desk, filtering through the windows. But he wasn't there.

Yako tilted her head. For the past few days, she had woken up to Neuro and his warmth. She had gotten used to that. She shouldn't have gotten used to that.

It was chilly.

She put on Godai's jacket and walked over to the piles of photos she had taken. Nothing interesting. All the dusty utensils, the blood spots from the places where the police had found the evidence.

Yako froze.

The photo she was holding slid out of her hand.

Dusty knives.

Why would the knives that he apparently used to kill somebody be dusty?

Given the photos, he hadn't moved them in a very very long time! A spider had built a web attaching the knife to the drawer! Whoever framed him obviously wasn't the careful, precise killer than he usually was. He was frantic, not careful, unsettled, and in a rush. Why? If he broke into into that apartment- which was obviously not used very often- then he obviously would have enough time to set the evidence carefully.

Yako sat down. "So... He didn't break in."

Which was very likely, since there wasn't any signs of a break-in.

The guy was _let_ in.

Yako knew that she had to talk with Fuji immediately.

* * *

Yako ran right out of her office like a madman and straight to Fuji, led by the tiny (now completely worn-out) eyeball that she had stolen from Neuro. The thing desperately needed to be charged up with demon magic. Yako found herself wondering where he was yet again.

She shook her head and the eyeball beeped, and she took a sharp right...

Ending up at the gate of a giant mansion. Clearly the modern apartment was a side home, a sleek party-room to throw hangouts and invite girls to. This might be another piece of proof against him- he obviously wouldn't need to be careful while he was hiding the evidence if the place he was dumping it in wasn't his regular home.

If he really was the murderer, his train of thought would be that the police would only search this mansion.

As Yako stood outside of the gate to the giant castle-like beige mansion with white carvings, she became suddenly extremely aware of her clothing and her messy hair. She hadn't given it a single thought before rushing out of her office, but her hair wasn't even combed yet. She was literally out of the bed, rumpled clothing, and wearing Godai's giant black jacket.

She had only wiped her face clean and drank a cup of coffee, which meant that she was also starving.

Yako adjusted her skirt and pulled up her socks. She clasped the buckle on her shoes tightly and ran her fingers through her hair. She took off Godai's jacket and straightened it up. She tucked her shirt into her skirt and re-buttoned it. She tugged on her collar and re-tied her tie.

She rummaged into Godai's jacket until she found a pack of mints and tossed a few into her mouth.

She rang the doorbell and told whoever was on the other side of the line that she was here to defend Fuji's case, and to do that she would have to speak to him.

After a long while, the gate opened and Yako walked inside.

She stood outside the giant door awkwardly. She took a deep breath and put a hand on the handle to turn it... At the exact moment the door swung open.

And Neuro looked down at his colleague.

He grinned.

"Good morning, Yako."


	9. Chapter 9

Yako's mouth dropped open. "Neuro!"

Neuro looked down at her. He took her hand off the handle and pulled her from the porch. "We're leaving."

"But- I haven't talked to Fuji-"

"That's already done, Yako. We have to leave, now."

"Wh-"

"I hope you're not _questioning_ me, Yako." Neuro growled.

Yako blinked. He was angry. Something was very wrong.

The moment Neuro pressed down on the handle of the gate, police cars began to roar into the scene.

The first one opened and a portly officer tumbled out, for lack of a better word. He shook his pants and made his way through the crowd of arriving news reporters. He held up a paper warrant to Neuro's face. "I've received an anonymous tip that a man who is charged with murder is dead in that house."

Yako felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. She felt her knees shake.

Neuro's grip of her wrist tightened. She knew that if he could, he'd turned around and give her a stern glare. She breathed in deeply. Her cheeks burned. She was innocent! She was, she was! ! ! Yako knew this was a bad situation. Every arrow was tilting to her. Pretty soon they'll start researching her other cases! They'll convict her, she'd go to jail, and the press will shame her; do anything to make it seem like her past cases were actually of her own composition- that she was the murderer-

People began to crowd in and question the reporters and the police. Pretty soon it will become a mob. Too many witnesses of Neuro and Yako in the scene. Too many memories to erase.

Neuro turned around and looked down at Yako. Yako felt weak, dizzy. Her eyes are watering. Neuro raised an eyebrow. "What _in hell_ has gotten into you?" He muttered. He waved his hand.

A green half sphere erupted from the ground and enveloped everyone in the near vicinity. Neuro then tugged Yako closer to his waist and jumped onto the mansion's roof. Neuro tossed Yako over his shoulder and raced for the office. Yako watched as, behind them, the green sphere broke and the events continued as if they had never even been there.

* * *

Neuro zipped up the stairs, closed the door, and slammed Yako up to the ceiling.

"You are weak," he growled. "Even more than usual."

Yako knew that in any other regular day she'd get mad, get angry and try land a hit on him, but somehow her limbs wouldn't move. Yako sagged on Neuro's legs. "You don't understand..."

"No, I do, I understand very well," he said, and with one swift move pulled Godai's jacket off of her and unbuttoned her shirt. He put his leg between hers to keep her up against the ceiling, leaving his hands free. Yako felt her heart skip a beat and blinked. A flush crept up her neck. "Eeeeh?!"

Neuro pushed the shirt off her shoulders. Yako struggled away from him. Her legs were awkwardly held apart. "Hey, what in hell is up-"

"Where is it?!" Neuro shouted.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Yako said sharply. She felt her old strength come shooting back. She fruitlessly tried to catch her shirt as it fluttered down to the ground. "Oi, Neuro, what are you-"

"Found it!" Neuro exclaimed triumphantly, and grabbed the side of Yako's waist. A tiny invisibility spell broke to pieces at his fingers. Yako looked down.

Neuro pointed at a tiny eyeball that had adhered to her waist with a tiny green tube and more than a couple strand of stringy yellow mucus. It bulged, sucking out Yako's life force with each tiny heartbeat.

Yako screamed. "Gah! Wh-what, I mean, th-that's your eyeball-"

"Yes, the one you _stole_ from me, Yako, now don't move-" Neuro pulled a giant scalpel from somewhere in his suit and cut into one of the veins. Yako winced. _It hurt_. Some viscous fluid dripped on her skirt. Yako felt woozy for a few seconds, but Neuro made a quick second slice and the eyeball fell off and into one of the trash cans.

Neuro cleaned off Yako's waist with a wipe and then wiped off the scalpel.

"C-can you let me down from the ceiling, now?"

"No."

Neuro tossed the scalpel away and raised his eyebrows at Yako. "The 'eyeball,' as you call it, was sucking out your driving force to lengthen its own life since it has been separated from its main demon energy port, otherwise known as me."

"Oh."

"I hope you've learned another lesson, Yako. You've just lost a month of your life."

"Yes, yes, I did. Don't steal any more high-power demons from Neuro and he means it... Now, can you let me down, _please_?" Yako said. Her belt had been pushed to the side and her skirt was hanging from her hips, revealing more than she wished Neuro to see.

"No. I am going to punish you."

With a click, the door opened, and the shirt that was hanging on the doorknob fluttered down to the floor in front of Godai. He looked down at his welcoming mat, and then up to Yako and Neuro.

He left.

* * *

"So... Now they're both dead." Yako muttered, flipping the pages of the newspaper she held in her hands.

Neuro didn't make a sound.

"Now what?" Godai said. "That's it? They're just going to let the real murderer go?"

"The real murderer is dead," Neuro said. Yako sat up. "Don't tell me you killed her-!"

Neuro swung his chair around. "Her?"

"The old ex-girlfriend, the one who works at the butcher shop- all the evidence points at her!"

Neuro laughed. "Just when I thought you gained some detective skills, Yako!"

Yako blinked. "It's not her...?"

"No, Ms. ex-Fuji is alive and well and planning to attend Fuji and Kiku's funeral."

"They're going to be buried together...!" Yako gasped.

Neuro smiled at her. "Which is what one of them _really_ wanted, Yako."

A few days earlier...

Fuji walked up to the house he bought for Kiku. A fat bouquet of flowers sat in his hand, a ring in its case made a small bulge in his pocket, and his wallet was full of empty checks to buy exactly what she wanted.

Who would say no?

He rang the doorbell and as the footsteps walked over to open the door, he grinned at his perfect reflection on the shiny panels of the window.

The door opened and Kiku peeked out. He smiled at her.

She looked up at him nervously and grinned.

"Hi, Fuji," She murmured in her whispery, high-pitched voice. "I thought you said you'd be here at 7...?"

He pushed her inside. "Sorry, I had to do some stuff. I'll make it up to you, I promise," He said confidently, stroking her chin. She pressed her hands together and closed the door.

He strode down the entrance hall into the living room carpet without taking off his shoes. He turned around and looked at the clock. Man, he was late. The dining table was set with two plates that were both untouched.

He looked at Kiku and grinned an apology, sure that she would accept it. "You didn't eat? Aw~ You don't have to wait every time, you know."

"I didn't feel like eating." She said.

He looked over her. "Why are you wearing such a plain print dress? What happened to the yellow silk one I gave you?"

"I-it's in the closet."

"Wear it! I like it better than this country-girl..."

"Well, I like this one better!" She shouted.

Fuji stopped taking off his coat. He looked at her. "What?" Shadows began to form under his eyes. "What did you just say?"

Kiku fell silent, then turned around and ran up the stairs into the bedroom, feeling her heart start to speed up. That look he just had... She should have listened to the rumors!

All those divorces he's had... What was he trying to do? All those girls who he proposed to just after a few weeks of meeting them! Did it really mean anything anymore- She was thankful of this house...

But it smelled like all the different girls he had given to before.

She would find panties that she never bought under the bed, leggings thrown over the chair, and when she searched online to buy a pregnancy test the computer automatically took her to an account that wasn't hers.

Boxes of entertainment that didn't suit her stocked up in the attic. Photos, pictures, paintings, torn off the walls.

Kiku fell flat on her bed and kicked off her shoes. The door opened but she didn't turn to look at him.

Which was why she didn't see the cleaver in his right hand.

"All I wanted was someone to be buried next to me when I die... Is that so much to ask?"

* * *

As the final funeral chimes rang from from the bell tower of the church nearby, Yako knelt down and tossed a bunch of white flowers over their graves.

"I don't suppose anything I would say now would get them to be in separate plots." Yako said.

Neuro watched carefully from behind her. "This is a waste of time."

"I'm sure Kiku wouldn't want to be sleeping forever next to her murderer."

"Where you are buried has nothing to do with where you end up, Yako." Neuro said. "The man is going straight to hell."

"Then, what about Kiku?"

"She was murdered. She's probably a ghost somewhere until she sees that the object of her fury is already dead."

"... How long is that going to take?"

"It already came to pass," Neuro murmured, turning away. "Now, Yako! We are done paying out 'respects' and will continue finding juicy morsels of human evil for me to consume."

"You killed Fuji, right?" Yako said, tossing another bunch of white flowers, this time one by one.

Neuro's expression went flat. "Yes."

If it had been a year ago, or three years ago, or six, Yako would have called him a monster and refused to meet him ever again. But it was now and she had a feeling that it wasn't all that he presented it to be.

* * *

Neuro sat in the chair of Fuji's house and watched at the idiotic narcissist explain hurriedly that he wasn't poking around the office to steal anything, but was searching for help and any way he could prove himself innocent. (lies)

Neuro felt the tool in his pocket beep and flash a cold blue. The curtains ruffled and the temperature dropped a few degrees.

Kiku was here.

Neuro calmly looked at the time. Yako was probably rushing over to here right now, excited with her discoveries. Should he hurry?

The somewhere inside his barren heart, Neuro realized that he didn't want Yako to see him kill this human. And this fact immediately pushed him to be exactly what she didn't want him to be.

Neuro looked at the two knives that were set horizontally in place with steel wire hanging over the fireplace. It could take off Fuji's throat cleanly if he were to be stupid enough to walk back three steps.

Or scared enough.

Neuro pressed a button on his demon tool and Kiku appeared.

As he left, ignoring Fuji's screaming, he heard Fuji trip and the sound of his throat being ruptured. Then he walked to the main door, put his hand on the doorknob, and sniffed.

Yako was on the other side.

He smiled... And opened the door.

"Neuro!"


End file.
